I have never done a blog before but I thought that it would be interesting for people to read about my training for a 20 mile open water swim that will benefit our veterans. First let me start off by giving you a little background on myself. I am 44 years of age, married to my best friend for 20 years and we have 3 awesome kids and 5 dogs. Needless to say my house is quit busy and is often referred to as the zoo, especially at feeding time. The dogs not the kids.If you view my 'Who I Am' page, you will see that I had Scoliosis growing up and had back surgery at the age of 12. I always played sports and kept myself in shape especially after the back surgery. It wasn't until high school that I picked up my first Muscle & Fitness magazine and fell in love with the toned and muscle physiques of the female bodybuilders; Corey Everson and Carla Dunlap. Today those ladies bodies are comparable to the fitness competitors of today.Reading those magazines got me into weight training and helped with my strength and muscle endurance to play basketball. I loved basketball and had thought about playing in college but life doesn't always turn out the way we want it and I ended up tearing my ACL in my left knee at practice one night. Three knee surgeries became the deciding factor that push me towards bodybuilding. I didn't enter my first competition until my sophomore year in college. I had the size, naturally of coarse, but not the ripped look that earns you a titled spot. Learned a lot especially about the importance of diet in the off season. Junior year I competed again. I had greatly improved my physique but this time there were no weight classes so I was competing against larger girls, Again no title.By this time I had already met my husband and it was more important to finish school and get a job. I was still lifting hard and figured I would enter another competition but then life happened again and between getting married and then having our first child nine months later, (yes, a honeymoon baby), the desire wasn't there anymore.Fast forward to today, I do triathlons and have done 8 of them so far. The longest distance has been a Half Ironman at high altitude. Talk about embracing the suck. Which brings me to my latest adventure, swimming the Catalina Channel. I will talk about this in my next entry. Until then. Embrace the Suck!